SAM Ong’s face broke into a smile as the boat he was on from Singapore docked at the Nongsa Pura Ferry Terminal in Batam, Riau Islands, on Wednesday, February 23. He was elated to be able to vacation in Batam in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. That day he tried the travel bubble scheme that was put in place for the first time.

The travel bubble is a tourism scheme in which incoming tourists are kept separate from the general public. T